Ex-Steelers QB Russell Wilson Claps Back at His Former Head Coach With Major Shade
Quarterback Russell Wilson stressed throughout his tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers how much he enjoyed playing for Mike Tomlin. Wilson hasn’t shared those same feelings for his former head coach with the Denver Broncos — Sean Payton.
He’s unlikely to anytime soon.
There appears to be no love loss between Wilson and Payton. This week, the two exchanged insults through traditional and social media.
Wilson fired his shade at the Broncos head coach with a post on X on Tuesday.
“Classless … but not surprised …,” wrote Wilson.
“Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later through the media.”
That post referenced Payton’s year-long suspension for “Bounty Gate. An NFL investigation in 2012 found former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams paid bonuses in a bounty system to his players for deliberately injuring opposing players.
Williams allegedly ran the bounty system under Payton, who was the team’s head coach.
Wilson’s post was in response to Payton essentially telling reporters he would have preferred to face Wilson instead of rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart in Week 7.
“They found a little spark with that quarterback,” Payton said of Dart. “I was talking to [Giants owner] John Mara not too long ago, and I said, ‘We were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game.'”
Russell Wilson Responds to Sean Payton
There have been a lot of rumblings over the past year and a half that Payton didn’t want anything to do with Wilson after their first year together in Denver. Those rumblings reached a fever pitch after December 16, 2023 when cameras caught Payton irate at Wilson along the Broncos sidelines in a game against the Detroit Lions.
After the 2023 season, the Broncos released Wilson despite owning him $39 million.
The Steelers signed Wilson in NFL free agency. Pittsburgh was able to ink him to a league-minimum deal because his contract with the Broncos meant Denver owned him the difference from $39 million.
In summary, Payton and the Broncos paid Wilson about $37.8 million last season to play for the Steelers.
That’s an obvious sign a coach doesn’t like a quarterback.
Wilson has not really addressed his relationship with Payton publicly. But clearly, the quarterback has had enough of Payton subtlety throwing insults at him.
Steelers Media Defends Wilson Against Payton
Things didn’t end well for Wilson in Pittsburgh. After beginning 6-1 as a starter, the Steelers lost their last four regular season games in 2024.
Including the playoffs, Wilson finished with an even 6-6 record with the Steelers.
Even still, some Steelers pundits were glad to see Wilson go on the offensive against Payton after receiving shade from the Broncos head coach.
It may have been classless for Payton to say he’d rather face Wilson than a rookie quarterback. But it’s hard to deny that the Broncos, and Steelers for that matter, are better off without Wilson.
With their comeback against Wilson’s Giants on Sunday, the Broncos improved to 5-2 this season. The Steelers are 4-2 with Aaron Rodgers behind center.
Wilson led the Giants to an 0-3 start before getting benched in favor of Dart. Wilson has lost his last seven regular season starts.
He is 23-35 as a starting quarterback since the start of the 2021 campaign.
Steelers Make Potentially Telling QB Move for Rookie Will Howard
The Pittsburgh Steelers announced releasing quarterback Logan Woodside from the practice squad, which could indicate the team plans to activate rookie Will Howard.
Rookie quarterback Will Howard has become a forgotten storyline for the Pittsburgh Steelers early during the 2025 regular season. But that could possibly change soon.
The Steelers announced making a change to their quarterback room Tuesday. The team announced on social media the organization parted ways with quarterback Logan Woodside.
The 30-year-old was on the Steelers practice squad.
That leaves the Steelers with only two healthy quarterbacks — Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph.
But the team has two more signal-callers on injured reserve. Howard and his former college teammate, Skylar Thompson, have been on IR since early September.
With the release of Woodside, the Steelers could be indicating either Howard or Thompson are ready to return.
Howard has been sidelined since fracturing his pinkie finger in his throwing hand on August 5. The rookie quarterback didn’t play at all in the preseason and began the regular season on IR.
Steelers Planning to Activate Will Howard?
The Steelers didn’t announce a corresponding move with Woodside’s release. When that happens, there might be a clearer indication of what the Steelers plan to do without Woodside as the team’s default QB3.
Based on what The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac said this week, though, it’s not at all a slam dunk Woodside’s release paves a path for Howard to return.
“I think they are going to keep their fingers crossed with two QBs until there is an injury for now,” said Dulac, via PennLive.com’s Nick Farabaugh.
That throws cold water on Howard returning in Woodside’s place. Having said that, Dulac made that prediction with the assumption the organization would continue to have Woodside as insurance on the practice squad.
The Woodside safety net is gone after his release. The Steelers will really have “their fingers crossed” with only two healthy quarterbacks on the active roster or practice squad.
The Steelers can’t active Howard and then place him on the practice squad. So, the team would have to make another move to the active roster to clear space for the rookie quarterback.
According to Dulac, the Steelers are reluctant to do that. They prefer having the extra roster spot instead of three active quarterbacks.
But one thing the Steelers could do is release a player from the 53-man roster, activate one of their quarterbacks from IR and then try to re-sign that released player to the practice squad.
In that situation, the Steelers would be risking the released player not clearing waivers. But that might be a better risk than hoping Rodgers and Rudolph don’t suffer injuries.
Could Steelers Be Close to Activating QB Skylar Thompson?
If Dulac is correct and the Steelers don’t plan to activate Howard anytime soon, then perhaps Woodside’s release indicates Thompson is on the verge of returning.
Thompson has been dealing with a hamstring injury since the start of the regular season. The quarterback was questionable on the team’s Week 1 injury report. Then ahead of Week 2, the Steelers placed Thompson on IR.
Thompson and Howard have been on IR together since then.
After a stellar preseason, Thompson earned the No. 3 quarterback role in Pittsburgh with Howard sidelined. Thompson has made three NFL starts and appeared in 10 games during his career.
If the Steelers value experience, Thompson is the preferred QB3 option over Howard for the rest of the 2025 season.
Steelers have terminated the contract of QB Logan Woodside from the practice squad, an indication that Skylar Thompson could be activated from IR this week.
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) October 21, 2025
